Electric-circuit closer.



No. 636,486. Patented Nov. 7, 1899. J. J. BUSENBENZ.

ELECTRIC GIRCUIT CLOSER.

(Application filed Mar. 13, 1899.)

(No llodelJ)" III u'ma. WASHINGTON n c UNITED STATES PATENT Fries,

JACOB J. BUSENBENZ, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL TIME RECORDER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC -CiRCUlT CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,486, dated November 7, 1899. Application filed March 18, 1899. Serial No. 708,927. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB J. BUSENBENZ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Inn provement in Electric Circuit Closers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in devices for automatically closing an electric IO circuit, and I have more especially devised it for use in connections where the work of the electric current is required to be performed momentarily at predetermined intervals, as in the case of an electrically-actuated clock,

though my invention is not intended to be limited to that particular application.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein my improvement is illustrated in the particular connection referred to, Figure 1 is a view illustrating part of a clock mechanism, in broken elevation, with my improved circuitcloser, shown partly by dotted lines, operatively applied to it in circuit with a time-recorder; Fig. 2, asection taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1,

viewed in the direction of the arrows and enlarged; Fig. 3, a broken plan view of the portion of the clock mechanism presented in Fig. 1 with my improved device connected therewith; Fig, 4c, a vertical transverse section of the circuit-closer, taken at the line at on Fig. 5 and Viewed in the direction of the arrow; and Fig. 5, a broken view of the same in front elevation.

As shown, my improved circuit-closer comprises the following-described construction:

A is a chamber, by preference of circular shape and which may be bestformed out of a piece of sheet-steel to afford the base Ct and the annular rim Z), the chamber having an airtight cover 0, preferably of glass. A metal contact (2 is fastened to the center of the insulating-cover c and has a stud 6 extending from it into the chamber, on which is loosely journaled at one end a contact-finger B in the form of athin and preferably sharp-edged strip of metal somewhat shorter than the radius of the chamber. On its inner end the finger B carries a weight f, shown in the form of a hatchet-head, with the finger extending from it like the handle of a hatchet The gravity tendency of the head f is to return the contact-finger to its normal position (indicated by dotted lines on Fig. 5) when removed therefrom. From the center of the base a there projects into the chamber A a hub 9, into which there extends from its outer end a socket 71-. The hub is covered at its inner end with insulating material g and is surrounded, contiguous to the inner surface of the base a, with an insulating-ring 9 carrying a finger i1, projecting across the plane of the headf to engage therewith.

\Vithin the chamber A is confined a body of mercuryl), extending into the path of the finger B, and for the sake of economy in the use of the mercury the chamber A should be exhausted as far as practicable of air.

The principle of operation of myimproved circuitcloser involves the rotation of the chamber A, with the contact B remaining stationary, to bring the actuating-finger i into engagement with the contact B, as at its head f, to turn it from its normal position, in dicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 5, to or beyond that shown by the full-line representation in the same figure till the head is carried far enough beyond the line of balance to cause it, by gravity, to flop over and quickly sweep the finger B edgewise through the mercury 5. With the device included in an electric circuit maintained normally open by the normal separation of the contacts B and B when the latter are brought together the circuit is closed.

To illustrate the operation, I show my improved circuit-closer seated at the socket h on the projecting end of the shaft Zof the escapement-wheel C of a clock-movement to rotate with the shaft. On the lower end of a strip at of insulating material are secured a 0 contactbrush d and a binding-post n, and the insulating-strip m is fastened at its upper end by the screw-stem 0' on a bindingpost 0 through the front plate 19 of the clockmovement frame to one of the spacing-rods r of the frame. 1) represents a time-recorder,

which may involve any well-known or suit able construction containing a clock (indicated D) of a variety adapted to be run electrically, and E denotes an electric gen- I00 erator including in its circuit the clock D by a wire to, connecting the binding-post 0 with one side of the generator, and awire to, leading from the opposite side of the generator through the electric actuating mechanism (not shown, but which may involve any wellknown construction) in the clock to the binding-post 'n. In each revolution of the shaft Z-thus, once every minutethe chamber A makes a complete turn, in which the finger t engages the weight f in its normal position and carries it and the finger B around to their positions shown by the full-line representation in Fig. 5, from which the weight drops ahead of the actuating-finger to its normal position, (there to await another engagement by the actuating-fingeig) in reaching which the contact B sweeps through the mercury B and momentarily closes the circuit from the battery over the wire to, binding-post 0, metal of the main clock-frame, chamber A, and mercury B to the finger B, contact cl, brush d, binding-post a, and wire to through the electrical mechanism in the clock D back to the battery. Under the momentary closure of the circuit the electrical mechanism in the clock D is actuated in the usual way to turn the clock-hands to advance them one minute.

WVhile the construction shown and described of my improved circuit-closer is the best known to me for its purpose, the invention is not limited to the particular details, which may be variously modified by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention. For example, the contact B is not indispensably mercury, though mercury is preferred for obvious reasons, nor need the weighted contact B nor the chamber A be of the particular form illustrated.

hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electric-circuit closer, the combination of a rotatable chamber containing a relatively stationary contact, and a contact supported in said chamberto turn independently thereof and sweep across said stationary contact to close the circuit.

2. In an electric-circuit closer, the combination of a rotatable chamber containing a relatively stationary contact, a contact finger journaled in said chamber to turn independently thereof and weighted to sweep across said stationary contact in attaining its normal position controlled by the weight, and engaging means in said chamber movable therewith and into the path of which said weighted contact extends to be engaged and turned on its support, substantially as described.

3. In an electric-circuit closer, the combination of a rotatable chamber containing a relatively stationary contact, a contactfinger journaled in said chamber to turn independently thereof and weighted to sweep across said stationary contact in attaining its normal position controlled by the weight, and an engaging finger projecting in said chamber and movable therewith to extend into the plane of said finger and turn it from its normal position, in the rotation of the chamber, to a position whence the weight aetuates it, substantially as described.

4:. In an electric-circuit closer, the combination of a rotatable chamber containing a mercury contact, a contact-fin ger j ournaled in said chamber to turn independently thereof and weighted to sweep across the mercury in attaining its normal position controlled by the weight, and engaging means in said chamber movable therewith and into the path of which said finger extends to be engaged and turned on its support, substantially as described.

5. In an electric-circuit closer, the combination of a circular chamber rotatable on its central axis and exhausted of air and containing a mercury contact bearing on the rim portion, a contact-finger journaled in said chamber to turn independently thereof and weighted to sweep across the mercury in attaining its normal position controlled by the weight, and engaging means in said chamber movable therewith and into the path of which said finger extends to be engaged and turned on its support, substantially as described.

6. In ar electric-circuit closer, the combination of a circular chamber rotatable on its central axis and containing a mercury contact bearing on the rim portion, a contact-finger carrying at one end a weight and journaled in said chamber to turn independently thereof, and a finger projecting in said chamber across the plane of said weight to engage therewith in the rotation of the chamber and carry the contact-finger from its normal position, controlled by the weight, to a point whence the gravity of the weight flops said contactfinger over through the mercury, ahead of the engaging finger, to its normal position, substantially as described.

7. An electric-circuit closer comprising, in combination, a chamber A containing a mercury contact B and provided with a cover 0 of insulating material, a contact at on said cover having a bearing 6 projecting into the chamber, a contact-finger 13 carrying a weight fand loosely journaled on said bearing, and an insulated finger t' in said chamber, rotatable with it, and projecting across the plane of said weight to engage it in each rotation of the chamber, the whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

JACOB J. BUSENBENZ.

Inpresence of- R. 1. Srnncnn, D. W. LEE. 

